GROUP ASSIGNMENT 2024

Course: Contrastive Analysis Test code: CAAS106

Course code: 4112002 Credits: 02
Date of submission: Time allocation:
FACULTY OF 30/3/2024
ENGLISH Deadline: 29.3.2024

ASSIGNMENT ON CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS 2023 GROUP 8

Name of ID Assessment Reason(s)

members (ABCD)
1. Hoàng 411210664 A full attendance of group meeting
Thanh with most significant
Phương contribution to group work
2. Hoàng Việt 411210649 A
Dũng
3. Lê Trương 411210654 A
Nhật Huy
4.
5.
Note:
A (Reason: full attendance of group meeting with most significant contribution to group work)
D: (Reason: Least/No attendance of group meeting with least/no contribution to group work)

TASK 1 Hierarchy of difficulty

Provide your own examples for each of the level of difficulty and write your recommendation or
prediction or hypotheses about the level(s) that may cause significant difficulty for the Vietnamese
learners of English. Note: An example has been provided for Level 0 Transfer. You cannot use this
example as your own answer.

Level Claim Your own examples Your

prediction
Level 0 There is Your example(s) as evidence The
Transfer no of difficulties at different Vietnamese
This is an difference levels of phonetics, learners of
example for between vocabulary, grammar English
reference. two (structure) … may have
languages E.g. My wife makes me feel …
as far as happy everyday/ Vợ của tôi difficulties
the certain khiến tôi cảm thấy hạnh phúc in
item is performing
 concerned mỗi ngày … in
. Hence, English.
there is no
barrier E.g. The
for the Vietnamese
learner learners of
and he English
can may have
transfer no
without dificulties
any in
difficulty performing
a certain structure
sound, “make s.b
lexical do s.t/Adj”
item , in English
structure.
Level 0 There is My wife makes me feel happy The
Transfer no everyday/ Vợ của tôi khiến tôi Vietnamese
difference cảm thấy hạnh phúc mỗi ngày learners of
between English
two may have
languages no
as far as difficulties
the certain in
item is performing
concerned structure
. Hence, “make s.b
there is no do s.t” in
barrier English
for the
learner
and he
can
transfer
without
any
difficulty
a certain
sound,
lexical
 item ,
structure
Level 1 This is Vietnamese: The
Coalescen when two ”tôi”,”tớ”,”ta”,”tao”,... Vietnamese
ce items in English: “I” learners of
one English
language have less
become difficulties
one item in
or pronunciati
equivalent on
in other
language .
In this
case the
learner
must put
aside the
item
which he
adapted
and forget
about it
while he
is using
the other
language.
Level 2 This is a đìu hiu,đượm buồn less trouble
Underdifferent case in and not
iation which an disturbed
item from when
native translating
language (
NN
nguồn)is
not
present in
the target
language(
đích) .
 The
learner
must
avoid this
item
Level 3 An item local “l” sounds
Reinterpretatio that is -l1: clear “l” in english
n present in -l2: dark “l” are more
native complicate
language d because
has a new there are
form or both clear
distributio “l” and
n in target dark “l”
language.
Example:
tenses in
Serbian
language
are used
in a
different
way and
there isn’t
the same
number of
tenses.
Level 4 This is a In Vietnamese, words such as: Because
Overdifferentia case when “trộm vía”,“lom dom”,“thả the
tion we have a thính”... does not have any Vietnamese
completel synonym in English. language
y new has some
item new
which cultural
does not words that
exist or it English
has little doesn’t
or no have
similarity equivalent
to any words.
 item in the Therefore,
other Vietnamese
language. people
In this have
scenario difficulties
the in
learner expressing
must in another
adopt the word
new
language
item.
Level 5 Split This is “việc làm” has one meaning in The
when one Vietnamese but has many Vietnamese
item in meanings in English: learners of
native “job”,”career”,”occupation”,”pro English
language fession”,... have
become difficulty
two or choosing
even more “Việc làm”
items in vocabulary
the target in English
language , to match
which the context
forces the
learner to
make a
new
difference
between
items.

TASK 2 Negative transfer/Interference

Order of Difficulty Comparison of Choice
Type
Most difficult L1 L2
1 ………. ∅ Ob
2 ………. ∅ Op
 3 ………. Op Ob
4 ………. Ob Op
5 ………. Ob ∅
6 ………. Op ∅
7 ………. Op Op
8 ………. Ob Ob
Least difficult
E.g. Least difficult: 8
This is an example for reference.
The word order in the sentence structure SVO Tôi yêu mẹ (Vietnamese as L1) is
obligatory and I love Mum (English as L2) is also obligatory. Therefore, the
Vietnamese learners are aware that they are required to place the Subject Tôi before the
Verb yêu, and put the Object mẹ after the Verb. This habit is the same in English. Then
the Vietnamese learners have least difficulty in producing the sentences with the
structure SVO in English.
E.g. Most difficult: 1
In Vietnamese (L1), stress is absent in the phonetics, but this is present in English (L2)
and stress is obligatory. Therefore the Vietnamese learners do not have the habit of
performing stress in pronunciation. It is predicted that the Vietnamese learners may
have difficulty in performing stress in pronunciation.

Most Difficult (1 & 2):

 Row 1 & 2: Learner has *no prior knowledge (∅)* in L1 or L2. Difficulty arises
because they're building entirely new concepts.
Less Difficult (3 & 4):
 Row 3: Learner has *prior knowledge (Op)* in L2 but *no knowledge (∅)* in
L1. This creates some confusion as they try to fit the new L2 concept into an
empty L1 framework.
 Row 4: Learner has *prior knowledge (Ob)* in L1 but *no knowledge (∅)* in
L2. There's a risk of the learner projecting their L1 understanding onto the new
L2 concept, potentially causing errors.
Least Difficult (5 & 6):
  Row 5: Learner has *prior knowledge (Ob)* in L1, but that knowledge *doesn't
apply (∅)* to L2. This is a good scenario - the L1 knowledge doesn't interfere
with learning the new L2 concept.
 Row 6: Learner has *prior knowledge (Op)* in L2, and their L1 knowledge is
also *empty (∅)*. Similar to row 1 & 2, there's no negative transfer as there's
nothing to interfere.
Neutral (7 & 8):
 Row 7: Learner has *prior knowledge (Op)* in both L1 and L2. The difficulty
depends on how similar the concepts are. If similar, there might be positive
transfer (L1 helps learn L2). If different, there could be confusion.
 Row 8: Learner has *prior knowledge (Ob)* in both L1 and L2, with the
concepts being “identical (Ob)”. This is ideal - the learner can easily transfer
their L1 knowledge to L2 with no interference.

Most difficult: 4
In Vietnamese (L1), word order is obligatory but flexible. However, in English
(L2), word order is more rigid, especially regarding the placement of direct and
indirect objects. Therefore, Vietnamese learners might struggle with consistently
placing the object before the verb in English sentences, as they are accustomed
to more flexible word order in their native language.

Least difficult: 7
Both Vietnamese (L1) and English (L2) have similar word order patterns,
following subject-verb-object (SVO) structure. Vietnamese learners would find
it relatively easy to transfer their knowledge of word order from their native
language to English, as both languages share this syntactic feature.

NOTE:
 You can choose anything in phonetics, grammar, vocabulary in
Vietnamese, English, French, Korean, Chinese ... to find the examples for
the scale of difficulties. Each of these languages can be L1 or L2 in transfer.
 Remember to make prediction about the difficulties of the learners of L2
(this depends on which language you choose as L1 and L2).
 The examples is just for the guidance. You cannot use these examples as
your own answer.
Erroneous Cause of error of transfer Intended Correct
 sentences Sentences
My family has five Kind of error: lexical error There are five
people. Có has members/persons in my
family.

tired, ∅ he still kept

Although he was so -kind of error: structural error Although he was so
tired, but he still Mặc dù...nhưng —>
kept working. although..but working.

I lost two hours to -Kind of error: structural error It took me two hours to
finish this work. Tôi mất—> lost finish this work.

I forgot my book at -Kind of error: lexical error I left my book at home

home. Quên —> forgot
I very like Coca -Kind of error: structural error I like Coca Cola very
Cola. Rất —>very much
Mary is a young -kind of error: structural error Mary is a beautiful
beautiful girl. Thứ tự tính từ: young girl
opinion,size,age,shape,color,
origin,material —>young(age)
beautiful(opinion)
She’s different with -kind of error: lexical error She's different from her
her sister. Khác với—> different with sister

He’s tall 1,7metres -kind of error: structural error He’s 1,7 metres tall.
Cao —> tall

English sentences that contain error form negative transfer from Vietnamese

Erroneous sentences Cause of error of transfer Intended Correct

Sentences
Mary is a young beautiful -kind of error: structural error Mary is a beautiful
girl. (trẻ đẹp) Thứ tự tính từ: young girl
opinion,size,age,shape,color,
origin,material —>young (age)
beautiful (opinion)

A modern big brick house -kind of error: structural error A big modern brick
(lớn hiện đại bằng gạch) The order of Adj: house
opinion,size,age,shape,color,
origin,material—> modern(age)
big(size)

He’s tall 1,7metres (cao -kind of error: structural error He’s 1,7 metres tall.
1,7 m) Cao —> tall

She’s different with her -kind of error: lexical error She's different from her
sister. (khác với) Khác với—> different with sister

Don’t fear. (sợ) -kind of error: structural error Don't be afraid.

Câu mệnh lệnh(Imperative
sentence): Don't be adj—> fear(n)

The film is boring and -kind of error: lexical error The film is boring and
Brad Pitt is a boring man. Chán nản → bored Brad Pitt is bored
(chán nản)
Almost people came to the -kind of error: lexical error 1/ Most people came to
party. (phần lớn/hầu hết) Phần lớn/hầu hết → almost the party.
2/ Almost everyone
came to the party.
I’ll take all two shirts. (cả -Kind of error: lexical error I’ll take both shirts.
2 chiếc áo) Cả hai —> all two shirts

All is yours. (tất cả) -Kind of error: lexical error Everything is yours
Tất cả —> all

I’ve lost all. (tất cả) -Kind of error: lexical error I've lost everything
 Tất cả —> all

All child needs love. (tất -kind of error: lexical error All children need love.
cả) Tất cả những đứa —> child

It is not allowed to smoke. -kind of error: structural error Smoking is not allowed
(cho phép) Không được cho phép hút thuốc –>
to smoke

She nearly sounds foreign. -Kind of error: lexical error She almost sounds
(gần như) Gần như —> nearly foreign

She’s dentist. (là nha sĩ) -Kind of error: lexical error She’s a dentist
Cô ấy là (một) nha sĩ —> dentist

You’ve made a very good -kind of error: lexical error You've made a ∅
progress. (một tiến bộ) Tiến bộ(tốt) –> very good progress

Don’t ask me money. (hỏi -kind of error: structural error Don’t ask me for
tôi tiền) hỏi tôi tiền —> ask me for money money.

Don’t ask me for my name -kind of error: structural error Don’t ask me my
(hỏi tên) hỏi tên—> ask SO for its name name.

It’s 37 kilos heavy. (nặng) -kind of error: lexical error It’s 37 kilos ∅.
Nặng —> heavy

The river is 10 meters -kind of error: structural error The river is 10 meters
large. (rộng) Rộng —> large length.

Because I liked him, so I -kind of error: structural error Because I liked him, ∅
tried to help him. (cho Bởi vì…nên…—> because…so… I tried to help him.
nên)
I like your new dress -kind of error: lexical error I like your dress very
much. (nhiều) Nhiều →much much.
I struck her by a flower. -Kind of error: lexical error I struck her with a
(bằng) bằng—> by flower.

I had some strange -Kind of error: lexical error I had some strange
experiences in his military Trong (1 khoảng thời gian) –> experiences during his
service. (trong thời gian) during military service.